


See right through you

by allforeverything (YachiLove)



Series: Angst AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, at least not for the characters, but not explicitly written as such, everyone is stressed, mental health issues are suggested
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YachiLove/pseuds/allforeverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team notices Lance isn't as fine as he wants them to believe he is. But life is hard in space and everyone makes mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See right through you

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like it's very easy to blame someone in this story but that wasn't my intention when writing it. Take this story with a grain of salt, the team doesn't deal with space as well as they do in the show. 
> 
> ***
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to everyone who left a comment or kudos on the first part of this series! I wanted to answer all of you but exams got in the way and now that I have the time it'd feel awkward because it was so long ago ;__;

_Pidge_

 

Pidge is very open about showing their annoyance. They simply have no time for stupid remarks or ignorant behavior, so they speak openly about everything.

A lot of times it was Lance who is at the receiving end of rebuffs and remarks, but Pidge isn't worried about that since Lance surely knows that Pidge loves him like family.

At least that's what they thought before Lance started acting weird.

It's clear that he misses his family. Sometimes he can be found looking at the star map in the middle of the night, blanked wrapped around him and obviously settled for the long run. He talks to himself in Spanish, explaining when asked that he is scared he'll forget it, now that he only speaks English to the others.

He's still the loud and cheerful Lance though, so they don't question him.

The fact hat something might seriously be wrong is brought to Pidge’s attention when Lance asks for a few books to read.

It's unusual that Lance would actually want to be seen anywhere near books, so Pidge is a bit suspicious.

“What would you need books for?” they ask, maybe a bit too brusquely.

Lance immediately back-paddles.

“I’m sorry, you’re right, it was stupid. I shouldn’t have asked. Um, I’m going to to go now. Sorry to bother you.”

And with that he turns around and leaves too quickly for Pidge to run after him and tell him that they really just wanted to know. They don't mind lending Lance some books.

When Pidge tries to ask Lance about it later he just apologizes and runs away again. They're really worried about Lance now, so they decide to talk to Shiro about it later.

 

_Hunk_

 

Hunk loves all of his friends to bits and he would conquer his biggest fears just to make sure they were happy and safe.

He makes sure everyone is well fed and that they have someone to talk to and just tries to be there for everyone.

Out of all his friends, Lance is the low-maintenance one. He always seems happy and Hunk can't imagine him not talking about anything that bothers him. In fact he would probably do it loudly and clearly so everyone understood.

So Hunk isn't particularly worried about Lance, even if he knows how much he misses his family. Life in space, so far from home got to everyone on the ship. Allura and Coran still mourn their civilization and the paladins have to deal with everything new, with the training and the constant fear of being attacked and possibly killed.

Everyone gets a little snappy and patience wears thin all around. Lance takes it the best though, staying surprisingly patient with everyone and generally trying to make it easier for everyone, all while staying his usual self.

So Hunk assumes Lance will be just fine by himself while the others could use a bit of extra attention. Helping his friends is what keeps him going right now, so he dives into it with his full attention.

But because of that he's busy all the time, and when Lance comes looking for him and asks to hang out he doesn't have time.

He feels a bit guilty, but at some point Lance stops asking so Hunk thinks he has found something to do as well.

It's only a few weeks later that he notices how off Lance is acting.

“Hey Lance, you've been weird lately, is something wrong?” Hunk asks during dinner one night.

“What? No, no I'm fine Hunk, what are you talking about?” Lance answers with his usual enthusiasm but Hunk can't help but feel like it's forced.

He tries to make sure that Lance is really okay, but no matter what he does Lance still seems both normal and off at once and Hunk is getting really worried.

Maybe he should have paid more attention to his friend.

 

_Keith_

 

Keith doesn’t even remember what they were fighting about. He only knows that it started out as harmless bickering and evolved into something more serious.

It’s Keith’s fault. He was annoyed at something that happened at breakfast and instead of talking about it like he should have he was now in this position.

“You’re the only one not really contributing anything to the team. It would be so easy to find a replacement for you,” Keith had said.

It's a filthy lie, spoken in a moment of misplaced anger. Lance was important to the team. He might not come with some sort of special knowledge or skill but he kept all of them sane. He was always there for his teammates. Sometimes even when they didn't know they needed it. He always knew what to do to make all of them smile even in their darkest hours.

But it didn’t matter, he can still see Lance’s expression. It's etched into his mind and will stay there forever. He looked heartbroken, but that wasn’t even the worst part. No, the worst part was that almost immediately he went front hurt to accepting. Like it was natural that Keith would say something like that and _actually mean it_.

“You don’t need to tell me that, I know,” Lance says, his voice small and cracking a bit at the end. Then he sighs and turns around.

Keith expected a lot of reactions. Dismissive, angry, uncaring followed by an equally cruel remark just to make it even. He doesn't expect Lance to actually believe the insult.

Lance is supposed to burst with confidence and ego, to walk through life unaffected by the opinion of other people.

But as Keith watches Lance slowly walk away, he can’t help but think that maybe they were all wrong when they judged Lance’s character.

 

  
_Shiro_

 

Shiro is worried about Lance, as is apparently everybody else. Pidge and Hunk have both come to him about Lance acting weird and Keith is worried because Lance acts like nothing happened between them even if according to Keith, he had said something terrible and hurt Lance.

So Shiro really hopes that Lance is just going through a rough spot and that it's nothing serious. He doesn't know what he would do if that was the case. Lately, it feels like responsibilities are just piling up endlessly and he could really use a break.

But he has a team to look after and he wants to make sure they're okay. He can wait for a bit. If he can get through this now, it'll be better after. He's sure of that. So he just has to hold on for a bit longer.

He really wants Lance to be fine. It's one thing if Shiro himself is dealing with some issues but Lance really doesn't deserve it. He should be happy and outgoing, joking like he always is and helping the team with his almost carefree attitude.

But Shiro fucks up.

He doesn't take Lance aside when they have time and are relatively relaxed. He doesn't ask Lance if he's feeling okay or if he wants to talk to the team about something. He doesn't make sure that Lance knows it's okay not to be fine and that the team loves him and will support him through everything.

He does none of those things, even though he knows he should.

“The others told me you were acting weird lately but you're fine, right?” is what Shiro says instead.

He doesn't even know why he says it like that. He doesn't even mean it. He just wishes Lance was fine but that doesn't mean he wants to make it seem like he expects Lance to be.

He wants to correct himself, hoping that it's not to late to make this right, to be the leader he wants to be and the others need him to be.

But he can see Lance panicking and shutting off.

“I'm okay, I promise! Don't worry I can do better!” Lance looks like he's close to hyperventilating as he says it.

If Shiro thought the guilt was bad before Lance spoke he was wrong. He made Lance react this way.

_I can do better_

Shiro feels cold all of a sudden. What does Lance think of them, that he thinks he has to do better? Why hadn't he said anything?

Shiro tries to form words into a sentence that would tell Lance that it's fine, that he doesn't need to do anything and that the team will support him.

But Lance is already gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I may be incapable of writing anything happy for this AU.
> 
> Also, if you're feeling anything like Lance or Shiro, please talk to someone about it. I want you all to be happy!
> 
> I'm crap at answering you lovely people, but if you don't mind that I'd be happy if you left a comment!


End file.
